Yes my last name really is Beyonce. Since last week’s column, people have been asking me if my last name is really Beyonce and if I am indeed related to the megastar. The answer to both is yes.

When people find out I am related to Beyonce they either ask me a lot of questions, talk bad about her or ask for her autograph. Once I called my credit card company because I absent mindedly forgot to pay my bill on time. The representative on the other end asked me about my last name and before I knew it she reversed my late charges without me even telling her why I had called yet. I assume this would not have happened if my last name was not Beyonce.

I actually married into the family. My husband, Tshaw, is first cousins with Beyonce and they actually grew up together. When he tells stories about her, it is always the same.

“She was always singing and always rehearsing,” he will say on auto pilot. Talking about Beyonce makes him uncomfortable.

My father-in-law, Skip, is very proud of Beyonce. He also has the last name Beyonce of course. Skip actually worked at Beyonce’s recording studio and sometimes fans would just drive by and sometimes my loving father would introduce himself. Fans would be so happy just to meet Beyonce’s uncle. He was even on a national web site once just because he is her uncle.

As I mentioned last week, I am on Twitter now. I tweeted my last column and the questions and accusations began. A couple of people accused me of lying. I told my mother-in-law about it and she shared a story about another one of our cousins. People in school give him a hard time because his last name is Beyonce. Some choose to believe it and others bully him about it.

I have no desire to be famous. It is too much pressure. I was talking with one of Beyonce’s major fans and she told me the following, “I have no idea if they (famous people) can truly grasp how much they are loved. From their perspective it must be overwhelming at some point.”

I agree. I went to the dentist recently and all they could talk about the entire time was Beyonce. They called their daughter to come to the office so she could meet the girl with the last name Beyonce. It made me very uncomfortable.

I was blessed to have my wedding reception at Beyonce’s recording studio. It was a lovely venue. I have an aunt I am very close with and every time she mentions my wedding it always begins with she got married at Beyonce’s studio and Beyonce’s mom even showed up.

I keep thinking about what Beyonce’s fan said to me. The part of her statement where she says, how much they are loved, haunts me. People truly love stars and devote a lot of their life to them. I guess I just did not realize it until I got the last name Beyonce.